


5 Times Everyone Thought Spider-Man was Iron Man's Favorite Superhero

by madasthesea



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Well at least the other Avengers are around and I never bring it up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-08
Updated: 2017-12-08
Packaged: 2019-02-12 02:48:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12949662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madasthesea/pseuds/madasthesea
Summary: And one time he actually admitted it.AKA: Tony and Peter's relationship is so adorable, it keeps making the news.Translation in Русский available:5 раз, когда все решили, что Человек-паук - любимый супергерой Железного Человека by 8salfeti8





	5 Times Everyone Thought Spider-Man was Iron Man's Favorite Superhero

i.

 

“Dude, dude, dude,” Ned chanted as he tripped into the classroom Peter was currently dozing in.

“Mmmph…” Peter groaned eloquently. He lifted his head from his folded arms, glaring blearily at his friend as Ned clattered loudly into the seat next to him.

“This is like the coolest thing ever!” Ned squealed, waving his phone enthusiastically. Peter just squinted at him. It took a moment for Ned to realize that Peter wasn’t keeping up. “Haven’t you seen the news this morning?”

“No,” Peter said, sitting up straighter. “What’s happened?”

Instead of answering, Ned thrust his phone under Peter’s nose. On the glowing screen was a picture of Tony Stark stepping out of his car somewhere in Manhattan. Peter blinked at it for a moment before realizing why this particular picture was apparently worth media attention. Underneath Tony’s black blazer was a red t-shirt—with Spider-Man’s insignia on the chest.

The title of the news article was “Iron Man Reps Queens Vigilante.”

Peter felt his cheeks turn pink. “Huh,” he squeaked, then coughed to try to clear his throat.

“Did you know he had that? Did you give it to him?” Ned said, eagerly leaning towards Peter.

“No, Ned, I didn’t give him some of _my own_ merchandise. I wouldn’t even know where to get any.” Not that Peter had ever looked for any Spider-Man merch. Ever. Definitely not.

Ned looked like he was about to start fanboying even more over the idea that Tony Stark had apparently bought _himself_ a Spider-Man t-shirt (or, possibly even cooler, someone like Colonel Rhodes AKA War Machine had seen the t-shirt and thought of Tony), when the classroom door opened and a few more students started filtering in, saving Peter.

Peter put his head back down on the desk and feigned sleep. There wasn’t really a not weird way of saying “I’m blushing like a tomato because Tony Stark is wearing Spider-Man’s symbol.”

 

 

ii.

 

Peter came home from the battle exhausted and sore, but with a full stomach and the warm thrill of having spent time with the Avengers keeping him content. His aunt was on the couch watching the news, which was showing shaky home videos of the fight in Central Park. He’d called her earlier to let her know he was alright, but she still jumped up and came to hug him as he walked in.

“Oh, you were so brave,” May praised as she led him to the couch, fussing despite him having no more than a few bruises. He settled down into the cushions with a sigh and closed his eyes while May went to get ice for his slightly swollen knee, only half listening to the news anchors chat.

“…. no casualties reported so far, and the DODC is on the scene. In fact, most people are more interested in a video capturing the moments immediately following the battle, featuring Tony Stark’s Iron Man and the vigilante known as Spider-Man—” Peter’s eyes snapped open.

“Let’s take a look at the video, Selene.”  

Central Park appeared on the screen, showing Black Widow and Hawkeye taking down the last of the tiger-like creatures together. Captain America jogged up, and a moment later Iron Man and Falcon joined. Peter knew what happened next; this is where he came in. Sure enough, a second later War Machine flew into the frame, Spider-Man swinging along behind him.

They converged together, and the video, probably taken by a camera mounted on a drone, zoomed closer. As he watched, Tony stepped out of the Iron Man suit and approached Peter before slinging an arm over Peter’s shoulders. He had been coming off an adrenaline high and shaking, and Tony had asked if he was alright before promising that getting some food in him would make the trembling stop.

The recording showed Tony clap Peter on the chest, and even on the shaky video Tony’s grin was evident.

The video cut off with the Avengers walking away from the camera, and the news anchors came back on the screen.

“It’s nice to see a little bit of brotherly love between teammates, isn’t it, Robert?” Selene said, smiling plastically at the camera. 

“Especially after the fallout of the Sokovian Accords only fourteen months ago,” Robert agreed. “In other news,” he continued, but Peter wasn’t paying attention anymore, he was too busy hiding his face in a throw pillow to avoid May’s teasing smile.  

 

 

iii.

 

“Peter?” May called as Peter opened the door.

“Hey, May,” he answered, trying to keep how utterly exhausted he was from his voice. It was still early afternoon, but he was ready to crawl into bed and sleep through the rest of this awful day.

His aunt appeared from the other room. Peter swallowed hard, trying to ignore her red eyes and hide his own. He didn’t have to try very long, because the next minute his face was buried against her shoulder. He linked his hands behind her back.

“You can always talk to me, you know that, right?” She asked, pressing his head harder against her collarbone.

He nodded vigorously. “’Course. ‘Course I do. Why would you ask that?”

May sighed and pulled away, looking at him for a moment, considering. “You haven’t seen the picture, have you?”

Peter furrowed his brow, not understanding. May pulled her phone out of her pocket and showed him the screen. It was a screenshot of a Tweet and showed a picture of Spider-Man sitting slumped on the edge of a roof, his legs dangling into the open air. Next to him was Tony Stark, settled a little more cautiously on the five story tall ledge, the empty Iron Man suit barely visible in the corner of the screen. It had been favorited almost 800,000 times.

Peter bit his lip and looked away. Tony had come to find him, apparently having been alerted by the so-called “Hall Monitor Protocol”—which had made Peter groan and drop his head into his hands—that Peter had cut school and was Spider-Manning. After May had found out about his alter-ego, that had been firmly on the “absolutely forbidden” list, so Tony was enforcing their agreed upon terms.

_He found Peter sitting on the edge of the same building he’d been perched on since he had slipped out of the boys’ bathroom window during homeroom. Tony clambered onto the roof next to him, somewhat nervously (as if Peter would ever let him fall), and sighed heavily._

_“Look, kid, I really don’t want to be the bad cop here, but you promised your aunt you’d put school first. What are you doing?”_

_Peter shrugged. “Bad day.”_

_“Like, failed a history test bad? Got shoved in a locker bad? I have no idea what high schoolers consider to be bad days,” Tony rambled, picking at his sleeve to hide his discomfort._

_“My uncle died a year ago today bad,” Peter said, and the bravado in his words was a stark contrast to the way his voice hitched and his shoulders tensed._

_Tony exhaled a curse. “I’m sorry, Peter. I forgot it was today.”_

_“Yeah, well…” Peter shrugged, kicking his feet against the brick. Tony placed a heavy hand on his shoulder in silent sympathy._

_Tony stayed with him until Peter spoke again, nearly half an hour later._

“I’m glad,” May said, pulling Peter out of his thoughts, “that you feel like you can talk to him about… this. But I want to make sure you know you can talk to me, too.”

“I know, May,” Peter promised.

 

 

iv.

 

The subway ride to school was full of morning commuters. Peter stood, absently playing on his phone with one hand while holding onto a bar with the other, so people didn’t question his perfect balance. Tony Stark was trending on just about every site, which wasn’t unusual, but made Peter worry, so he clicked on the link.

“TONY STARK: ‘IF EVERYONE WERE MORE LIKE SPIDER-MAN, I COULD RETIRE’” was the headline that greeted him. Peter’s choked slightly and spent the next few seconds coughing before he could scroll down any further. There was a video embedded in the article, and he quickly paused the music pouring through his headphones and pushed play.

Tony was leaving a meeting with U.N. officials, and there were paparazzi swarming the doorway. They were yelling questions, most of them lost amid the uproar, but Tony continued forward without answering. That is, until a woman shoved a mic under his nose and shouted, “Should the residents of Queens be worried about the presence of the superpowered vigilante, the so-called Spider-Man?”

Tony stopped. He looked like he was debating with himself for a second before he turned toward the reporter.

“No. Absolutely not.” The reporters around him quieted, so that his words could be heard. “I’ve had the honor of working with Spider-Man, and I can guarantee that he’s a good, solid guy. There aren’t many people in this world who genuinely care about everyone they meet, but Spider-Man does. He will do anything to help anyone.” Tony paused, then reached up and took off his sunglasses. The flashing of camera bulbs increased. He took a deep breath and continued. “Honestly, if everyone were more like Spider-Man, I could retire.”

The shouted questions resumed, even louder than before, but Tony just pushed his way through the crowd and climbed into the back seat of the sleek car waiting for him. The video ended.

Peter blinked at his phone screen. He was… floored. Shocked. He had no idea Tony thought that highly of him, or would be willing to defend him in front of the press. Peter swallowed, then hit resume on his music.

 

 

v.

 

Peter woke up in the med-bay, which was never a good sign. May was there, at his bedside, and Tony was lurking in the corner, pretending to be very invested in whatever was on his phone. Between the two of them, and the other Avengers who drifted in and out of the room, Peter was able to piece together what had happened.

There had been a battle, which Peter could remember going to but not coming back from. He had been hit by an alien-powered weapon and gone down with lacerations all over his body. He’d been rushed to medical and unconscious for a day and a half. The details were fairly unsatisfactory, but Tony wouldn’t say anything else, and no one else would either, always casting surreptitious glances at Tony when Peter asked.

Peter feel asleep pretty quickly after waking up, but he felt much better the next morning, when he woke to Steve bringing him breakfast. Tony was absent for the first time, and May was asleep on the couch in the corner.

“Captain, what happened?” Peter demanded as Steve settled the tray on Peter’s lap. “What really happened?”

“It’s like we said, Pete,” Steve assured him. Peter clenched his jaw and stared down at the foot of his bed. “It wasn’t pretty.”

“I have a right to know,” Peter said. Steve sighed.

“FRIDAY, pull up the news report following the battle.”

The large TV mounted on the wall flicked to life, and a local news station began playing, though the footage was from two days ago.

“We are receiving new footage right now from the scene of the fight. We have established that the Avengers are on site, and that the attacks are being carried out with alien technology. Let’s go to the clip. Viewer discretion is advised,” the news anchor was spewing quickly. There was a brief lag, where she and her co-host stared at the camera, both looking nervous.

A shaky video came up. It was chaotic and loud, explosions and shouts echoing out through the sound system, though the volume was turned low. Rubble was flying and the person filming cursed before running, the video blurring for several seconds before it stilled again. In the background, you could see Falcon swooping low, firing at two figures who were in black and carrying large, glowing weapons. Another figure fell, the fletching of an arrow barely visible from this distance.

The sound of a discharge of energy sounded close to the camera, and a scream of pain rang out. Peter’s eyes widened. A second later, Spider-Man fell into view, collapsing to the road in a heap of limp limbs and torn fabric.

What was more surprising, however, was that a heartbeat later Tony’s familiar voice rang out. “ _No!_ ” he screamed. The sound of repulsors grew louder and then Iron Man was crashing into the scene, right next to Peter’s fallen form.

Despite being in the middle of a battle, the suit opened and Tony stumbled out, crumpling next to Spider-Man. His face was hard to make out through the haze and commotion of the battle, but it looked almost blank in horrified shock. His mouth was moving, but the words were indistinguishable amidst the rest of the noise. Peter thought he could see Tony’s lips forming his name over and over.

Blood was beginning to pool around Peter. Tony was pressing his hands against the kid’s chest, where the largest gash was, but it wasn’t enough. Tony looked up, past the camera, and shouted for help from someone out of view. A moment later, Captain America jogged onto the screen. He dropped down on Peter’s other side, partially obscuring Tony and Peter. The camera shifted a few feet, enough to capture all of them again.

Steve was pulling a roll of bandages out of one of the pockets on his belt, and began wrapping it hastily around Peter’s chest as Tony lifted his upper half. Both of their mouths were moving rapidly, but none of the conversation was audible.

And then, Tony froze. He looked down at Peter, his face white. He said something to Cap, who immediately abandoned the bandages and settled Peter back down on the ground while Tony’s blood-coated hands fumbled for Peter’s mask. The angle of the camera only showed Peter’s pale chin as the fabric was lifted up above his mouth.

Whoever was filming swore as Tony bent over Peter. He wasn’t breathing. Tony breathed for him.

There were a few brief moments, where the chaos of the battle seemed to fade away as Peter, and everyone else who had watched this, focused only on Iron Man forcing air into Spider-Man’s lungs. And then, as Tony paused between breaths, panting, there was a choked, gasping noise, so faint it was barely audible on the film.

Peter’s spine arched as he seemed to come to himself, his chest heaving as he sucked in lung-fulls of air. Tony went visibly limp with relief, using one hand to support himself, placing the other on Peter’s forehead.

“Yes!” The camera-man cheered. “Yes!”

Captain America looked over his shoulder and directly at the camera. He turned back to Tony, who’s eyes flicked up a second later and saw that they were being filmed. There was another brief discussion as Tony pulled Peter’s mask back over his face, and then Tony was standing, the Iron Man armor forming around him in an instant. Steve lifted Peter, who was either unconscious again, or so out of it he didn’t respond to being picked up, and then handed him over to Tony, who clutched him carefully to his chest. The repulsors flared to life, and then they were gone.

Steve cast another glance over his shoulder. “You really shouldn’t be here. It’s not safe,” he told the person filming. Then he ran off and re-entered the battle.

The video cut out.

The news came back, so suddenly Peter blinked. He’d been so caught up in the battle, he’d forgotten that this was an old video. The anchors sat behind their desk, looking shocked.

“That was…” one of them tried before her voice broke slightly. “That was brand new footage from the Avengers fight in the Bronx. We have no word yet on Spider-Man’s condition, but we do know that Iron Man has not rejoined the battle. We’ll update you—” The TV went black.

Peter sat in silence for a long moment, his mind whirling. He didn’t remember any of that, just flashes of noise and pain and Tony saying his name.  

“Are you ok, Peter?” Steve asked. Peter jumped, having forgotten that Steve was there. He nodded jerkily, his head feeling slightly disconnected from his body.

“Yeah, I… yeah. I stopped breathing?”

“For a few minutes, yeah. Your heart never stopped, though.” Steve was staring at him as if he were a kicked puppy.

“Oh, well, that’s good, that’s something to celebrate. Good ol’ heart,” Peter rambled, not entirely paying attention to the words pouring out of his mouth. “Where’s Tony?”

“Would you like me to alert Boss that you’re asking for him?” FRIDAY asked.

“Uh, ye-yeah. Thanks, FRIDAY.”

Steve looked at him for another minute and Peter fidgeted under his gaze. “Eat your breakfast,” he said, and then left. Peter numbly spooned tepid oatmeal into his mouth until Tony appeared, looking flustered, like he rushed here and was trying to hide it.

“Hey, kid,” he greeted, coming over and stealing a blueberry out of Peter’s bowl of fruit. “FRI said you wanted me. What’s up?” He perched on the foot of Peter’s bed and looked at him expectantly.

“I saw the—” His voice wasn't working right. He cleared his throat and tried again. “I saw the news. The video. Of the-of the battle.”

Tony winced a bit, looking away. “Steve show you?”

“Only cause I asked.”

“’Course he did,” Tony sighed, rubbing his face.

“Thank you,” Peter said, hurriedly.

Tony looked up at him, his face haggard and exhausted. “Don’t mention it, Pete. I’d rather not remember that, to be honest.”

“Oh, right. Still. I owe you.” Tony gave him a small smile and patted him awkwardly on the foot.

“Never do that again and I’ll consider us even.”

“Deal.” Peter smiled and earned an honest smile in return.

Tony stayed until Peter was done with his breakfast.

 

 

i.

 

Peter didn’t spend a ton of time at the Avengers compound, as he wasn’t an Avenger himself and had a pretty full schedule already between his school and superhero duties. But on occasion, Saturdays would find him upstate; training, working with Tony in the lab, or just spending time with his mentor and assorted heroes.

This Saturday was a bit different, as Tony was scheduled to give a press conference from the designated press room. Peter would have been content to just wait for it to be over while doing his homework or something, but Tony waved the thought away and told Peter that it’d be a learning experience for him, and that he could stand with Pepper in the back.

It was fairly interesting, seeing the way Tony handled the reporters. Spider-Man didn’t get a lot of direct attention from the media, but when he did, it was always very stressful and intimidating for Peter, so he tried to take note of what Tony did so he could remember it for later.

The conference was winding down, Tony merely answering questions at this point. He called on a woman in the back, who stood and asked her question in a loud voice.

“Many people consider you to be their hero, and say that you inspire them. Who do you consider to be your hero or inspiration?”

Peter listened with interest, wondering who Tony Stark could possibly look up to. He was one of the greatest men in the world.

“Well, first, it’s important to remember that there are a lot of people out there in the world doing amazing things, who should receive as much attention and praise that superheroes do, but don’t because they save people through medicine and science and hard work. So, I’d like to say that they inspire me and they are the people I work so hard to protect,” Tony said. Peter clapped with the other smattering of applause. It was a good answer, even if it was vague. But he wasn’t done.

“But in terms of my hero, my perspective has been changed a bit in the last year or so. People I thought were heroes turned out to be less worthy of my admiration than I thought, and people I never would have considered could do great things have opened my eyes to the good in the world. I know someone who lives their life everyday by the philosophy that when you have the ability to help, you have the responsibility to help.”

Peter looked up, his stomach knotting in uncomprehending anticipation for Tony’s next words.

“And because of that, I can honestly say that the person I look up to for inspiration, my hero—” Tony’s eyes flicked up and met Peter’s across the room, “is Spider-Man.”

The room erupted into more questions, but Peter wasn’t listening to any of them. He was staring blankly up at the podium where Tony stood, still looking at him. He felt Pepper’s hand on his arm, surreptitiously shepherding him out of the room, which was good because Peter could give absolutely no thought to be subtle for the sake of his secret identity.

Pepper stood with him in the hallway while the conference finished up, saying nothing about Peter wiping at his eyes and sniffling. Finally, the door opened again and Tony stepped through, looking relieved to be done.

“A 50 minute conference about Stark Industries’ clean energy initiative in third world countries, and you know all the newspapers are going to have headlines about Spider-Man tomorrow,” Tony sighed, sounding annoyed, but casting an almost pleased smile at Pepper as she kissed his cheek and excused herself.

Peter suddenly didn’t know what to do around Tony, a symptom of nerves he hadn’t had to deal with in quite a while around the billionaire.

“Come on, kid,” Tony said. “Say something.”

Peter looked up to find Tony watching him, eyebrows raised expectantly, but looking surprisingly nervous. His sunglass were off and his hands were in his suit pockets as he rocked slightly on the balls of his feet.

Peter opened his mouth, thought for a second and then shut it again. Tony snorted. He was about to speak when Peter interrupted.

“You’re my hero, too,” he finally managed to choke out. “Always have been.”

Tony beamed at him, the widest smile Peter had ever seen him give. He strode across the room and slung an arm over Peter’s shoulder and began guiding him to the kitchen.

“Of course I am,” Tony said, making Peter laugh and roll his eyes. “I’m awesome.”

He squeezed Peter’s shoulders in what could probably be considered a hug.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it! Let me know!


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